Texas quarterback Arch Manning may have the Longhorns riding a two-game winning streak right now, but that’s largely been in spite of him – not because of him. So when fans saw Manning taunting a defender on Saturday, they got pretty heated at the arrogance of it.
Late in the first quarter of today’s game against Sam Houston State University, Manning ran the ball from the 5-yard line in to the Bearkats’ endzone for a touchdown that doubled their lead. But then Manning ticked a lot of people off by staring down at the defender who tried and failed to tackle him. The two got in each others’ faces and had to be separated by officials.
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Cringey?
There’s a lot of reasons that the moment seemed inappropriate. For starters, Manning has been playing very poorly lately and people expect him to be a lot more humble. Next, there’s no “rivalry” between Texas and Sam Houston, so it feels unnecessary. Third, Sam Houston is 0-3 and has a strong case as the worst team in FBS right now – why taunt a bad team?
As a result, there have been a lot of complaints like this:
“Arch Manning has come off as this humble guy his entire career… but staring a guy from Sam Houston State down like this is CRINGE. I get he’s having fun, but Arch hasn’t really earned the right to act like this quite yet,” College Football Report wrote on X.
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“Congrats on flexing on 0-3 Sam Houston State! He’ll be back to seeing ghosts against the SEC in no time,” another user mocked.
“Taunting a team you paid a million dollars to come give you a free win is the exact opposite of swag,” a third wrote.
July 15, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Texas quarterback Arch Manning listens to a question during SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.© Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“Arch should be ashamed for doing this against SHSU. Texas Football should be even more ashamed for being proud enough to post this!”
“That is absolutely pathetic and when you get done playing tuner games and face off against a real team he’ll take that L just like he did against The Ohio State Buckeyes.”
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Entering the game, Manning was completing just over 55-percent of his passes while averaging less than 200 yards per game. Those averages are likely going to increase substantially, but opinions aren’t going to change on him for beating a winless Conference USA cellar-dweller.
As of writing, Texas are rolling over Sam Houston and the Longhorns will head into their bye on a three-game winning streak.
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Sep 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.